PICO
Patient/Population
Healthy rugby players (n=30)
Intervention
- Plyometric, proprioceptive and strength exercises
Comparison
- No intervention
Outcomes
Glenohumeral joint stability
Translatability: (3/3) Easy
Comments: Plyometric, proprioceptive, and strength exercises improve glenohumeral stability. This improvement can be maintained for four weeks.
Limitations: Small sample size. The evaluation of muscle strength together with stability, if used, would have increased the power and size of the study results.
Appraisals:
PEDro Scale – (8/10) Blind subjects: No; Blind therapists: No. (by PEDro – confirmed)
Trustworthiness – The study contains no serious weaknesses. Based on this result you should conclude that the trustworthiness of the study is high (90%). This means there is a 10% chance that alternative explanations for the effect found are possible. The effect size was large and 95% CI was OK. (by CAT for RCTS)
BTB
Intervention
- Plyometric, proprioceptive and strength exercises.
Dose
5 minutes sessions.
4 one minute lasting exercises, and with one-minute rest between exercises.
The first three exercises were repeated 15 times, while the last exercise was performed over a period of 30 seconds.
Periodicity
- 2 weekly sessions period of 4 weeks.
Local/Technic:
On both shoulders, aimed to improve stability, control, and muscle strength of the glenohumeral joint, with physiotherapist supervision.
1st exercise – the player, in two-legged stance with 90◦ houlder abduction and 90◦ elbow flexion, should catch a fitness ball and perform an external rotation movement, returning the ball using internal rotation.
2nd exercise – while holding an elastic band in a standing position, the player was asked to stand on the elastic band with one foot and with the contralateral limb to perform shoulder flexion to exercise the flexor muscles of the shoulder.
3rd exercise – players were asked to perform scapular approximation and separation without changing their initial position, from a push-up position with their hands on the floor, while shoulders, elbows and wrists remained aligned.
4th exercise – a Bodyblade device© was used; the athletes, in a standing position with 90◦ shoulder abduction and 90◦ elbow flexion, were asked to push in an anteroposterior direction, causing an oscillation effect, in order to work on proprioception by anteroposterior stabilization of the glenohumeral joint.
Citation:
Suarez-García, M., López-Mardomingo, P., Nah-Mohamed, M., & Cuesta-Barriuso, R. (2021). Improved shoulder stability through plyometric, proprioceptive and strength exercises in rugby players. A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Men’s Health, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.31083/jomh.2021.021